The Emporia weekly news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1881-1889, 1887-08-18

1 IL WcQb ONSI bllO DIlOG0 16u DoQS2Iu
and it could only have been the teri
BILE speed of the train which saved th
lives of the engineer and his fireman
but the next engine went down an
instantly the deed of death was dom
Car smashed into car, seats piled on
on top of another, and in the tWinklin
of an eye nearly 100 persons found IL
slant death, and fifty more were s
hurt that they could not live. AS for th
wounded, they were everywhere. Onl
the sleeping coaches escaped, and a
the startled and half dressed passenger
came tumbling out of them they foun
such scene Of death as is rarely wit
messed. and such work to do, that
seemed as if human hands were utterl
incapable. 1t lacked but five minute
OF midnight. Down in the ditch la
the second engine, Engineer McClin
took dead, and Fireman APPLICANT
badly injured. On top were piled tn
three baggage cars, on on top of tn
other, like child's card house after b.
had swept it with his hand. TheI
comes the six day coaches. They wer'
teleScoped as cars never were before
and three of them were pressed int
just space enough for one. The SECOND
car had mounted of the trucks, crashed
through the car ahead of it, crushing
the woodwork aside like finder, and LAY
there resting on the tops of the seats
while every passenger in the front cal
was lying dead and dying un
deneath. Out of that car but
four people came alive. On top OF
the second car lay the third, and al.
bearer as completely as beneath, the
bottom was smeared with the blood OF
its victims. The other three cars were
not so badly crushed, but they were
broken and twisted in every conceiv-
able way, and every crushed timber
and beam represent crushed human
frame and a broken bone. Instantly
the air was filed with the cries of the
wounded and shrieks of those about to
die. The groans of the men, the
screams of the women, united to make
a common sound, and above all could
be head the agoniZing cries of little
children, as, in some instances, they
lay pinned alongside of their dead par
ents. And here was another
terrible danger yet to be
met. The bridge was still
burning, and the wrecked cars
were laying on it around the fiercely
burning embers. Everywhere in the
wreck were wounded and unhurt men,
women and children, whose lives could
be saved If they could be gotten out,
OGO WAOOO 0C0g-3 anu ACe1bA III q hui
rible form, was certain if the twisted
wood of the broken cars caught fire.
And to fight the fire there was not a
drop Of water and only some fifty able
boeied men who had still presence of
mind and nerve enough to do their
duty. The only light was the light of
the burning bridge, and with so much
of its aid the fifty men went to work to
subdue it. For four hours they
FOUGHT LIKE FIENDs,
and for four hours the victory hung in
weapon with which the fire
could be fought, and so the
attempt was made to smother it
out. There were no picks or shovels to
dig it up nor baskets nor barrows to
carry it In. So, desperately they dug
their fingers down into the earth which
a long drouth had baked almost as hard
as stone and heaped the precious hand
fulls thus hardly won upon the en-
crouching flames and with this earth
work built, handful by handful, kept
back the foe. While thiswas going on :,
other brave men crept underneath the
wrecked cars beneath the fire and the
wooden bars which held prisoners so
many precious lives and with pieces of
board and sometimes their hands beat
back the flames when they flashed up
alongside some unfortunate being who,
pinned down by a heavy beam,
looked on helplessly while it
seemed as if his death by
fire was certain; and while the
fight was thus going on, the ears of the
workers were filled with the groans of
dying men. The anguished entreaties
unless the terrible blaze could be ex-
tinguished, and the cries of those too
badly hurt to care in what manner the
end were brought about, so only it
would be quick. So they dug up the
earth with their hands, reckless of the
blood streaming out from broken finger
nails, and heaping it up in little
mounds, while ali the while came the
heartrending cries: For Gods sake
the victory was won; the fire was put
out after four hours of endeavor, and
as its last spark died away, light came
up in the East to take their place and
dawn came upon scene of horror.
While the fight had been going on,
men had been dying and there were
not 80 many wounded to take out of
the wreck as there had been four hours
before. But in the meantime the coun-
try had been aroused; help had come
from ChatSworth, Forest and Pierce
City, and as the dead were laid rever-
entially alongside of each other, out in
the corn field there were already hands
to take them into Chatsworth, while
some of the wounded were carried to
Piper City. One hundred and eighteen
was the awful poll of the dead, while
the wounded numbered four times that
number. The full tale of the dead
cannot, however, be told yet for days.
Chatsworth was turned into a
morgue to-day. The Town Hall, the
engine house and the depot were all
full of dead bodies, while every house
in the little village had its quota of the
wounded. There were over 100 corpses
laying in the extemporiZed deadhOuSes
and every man and woman was turned
into an amateur but Jealous nurse
Over in a lumber yard the noise Of
hammers and saws rang out in the air
/ and its busy carpenters were making
rough collins to carry to their home!
the dead bodies of the excursiOnists
who, twelve hours before, had left thei
homes full of pleasurable expectation
of the enjoyment they were going t.
have during the vacation which had be
aster was first flashed over tn
wires, prompt aid was at once sent
DR.. Steel, Chief Surgeon of the Toledo
Peoria 4 Western railroad, had com
on at once in a special train, and wit
him were two other surgeons and thei
assistants. From Peoria also, cam
Doctors Martin, Baker, Flagler an
johnson, and from every city whenc
the unfortunate eXcursionists ha
come from their physicians and friend
hurried on to help them.
In the town hall was the main hos
pital, and in it anxious relatives an
friends scanning gently the sufferer
faces, asked the attending surgeon
! as they bound up the wounds and il
sisted that there must be hope. Dow
J in the dead houses, fathers, husband!
J brothers, sisters, wives and childre
J tearfully inspected each face as it we
uncovered, and sighed as the feature
were unknown, or cried out In angus
when the well-known face, sometime
, fearfully mangled, was uncovere,
The entire capacity of the little Villal
} was taxed. Kind-hearted wome
drove in from miles to give their gel
tie ministrations to the sufferers. n
sooner had the wreck occurred than
( SCENE OF ROBBERY COMMENCED.